2021 View heat pump operation off batteries

[Hdrew72]

We have a new View and are on our “maiden voyage” with it, mostly staying in RV parks. The one night we boondocked, we could not get the heat pump to run off fully charged batteries. All the a/c outlets worked for us so the inverter was working... Is this normal? Is the inverter undersized to run the heat pump..? I ran the generator and the heat pump would run a few minutes then the generator would shut down, with a “Short Circuit” error. Advice please?

[rk911]

assuming our Suncruiser is set up the same as your View the rooftop AC/Heat Pumps will run either off of the genny or park electrical hookup. the coach inverter is for the fridge, microwave, some outlets and poss the TV.

[DavidM]

The new View comes with a 3,600 watt LP generator and a 2,000 watt inverter. That size inverter is marginal for running your heat pump and would probably quickly shut down with any other load on it. So don't try running the heat pump from the inverter in addition to the fact that your batteries will only last a few hours.

Why did the generator shut down? Well if it were running the heat pump at about 15 amps, the converter at about 8 amps, and a few other things it was probably overloaded.

David

[rprochnow]

When we've boondocked with our 21VD (250Ah lithium batteries, 480W solar, diesel generator), when operating off batteries, the ceiling fans work and the gas heater, but the ceiling air conditioner (including the heat pump) will not operate.

Also, you can either run the microwave or the induction cooktop - not both.

[Morich]

I do not know the newer generator that you have but it would seem odd to me to get a "short circuit" wanting/error if it was overloaded. I would more expect to have a breaker on the output of the generator to trip if overloaded.
But then that may not be true for new generators on your RV.
Just a point to look over as the term "short circuit" is much more than the much more common overloading situation.
Do you have a generator book onboard that might give a definition of the "short circuit" message?
I may be hung up on the use of the terms but while both an overload and short circuit can cause the same problem at times, the solutions are going to be very different.
If I have a tripped breaker, I might cut back the load and reset the breaker but if I have a short circuit, I think of wiring problems.

When you say the generator shut down, do you mean it cut the output but kept running or do you mean the actual generator engine stopped running?

Sometimes it takes getting used to how the builders were thinking at the time.

[creativepart]

The A/C Heat Pump is not connected to the inverter electrical circuit at all. This is normal and not unusual. And even if it was the inverter on a View is not sized to run the A/C.

As to your generator that sounds like something unusual. I’m not aware of any Onan generator that even offers that kind of error message. They usually flash a series of blinking light you have to count and the refer to an error code list to decipher the error.